A 41-year-old woman who is seeking to have three unused frozen embryos implanted in her womb has told the High Court she believes the embryos have a right to life, irrespective of the position of her husband.
The woman was giving evidence on the second day of the hearing.
She is seeking to have three frozen embryos thawed and implanted in her womb. Her husband, from whom she has since separated, has refused to give his consent to the implantation.
Earlier she told the High Court that she and her husband had not discussed what to do with them prior to the birth of her youngest child through IVF.
The woman told the court how, early in 2002, she and her husband had gone through IVF treatment at a Dublin clinic to try and conceive a second child.
She described how they had both signed the relevant consents, including one to allow any unused embryos be frozen.
The treatment worked, and she gave birth to a baby girl in October 2002.
But she described how a short time later their marriage fell apart when her husband admitted he had had an affair.
The woman told the court that prior to December 2002, they had not discussed what to do with the three frozen embryos left over after the IVF process.
She said at that time all she wanted to do was to bring another baby into the world.
But just before her husband left the family home for good, in December 2002, she said they did discuss the matter.
She claimed her husband had said the embryos should be destroyed, but the woman said she told him this was not allowed by the clinic.
And she said she told him that the embryos were their children, the brothers and sisters of their existing children, and the right place for them was back inside their mother.
